While Bird Island’s sands are highly mobile (see blog post of 23 June), within seasons some areas of beach can remain relatively unaffected by wind, tides and currents. Some plants have evolved to capitalise on this by producing fruits or seeds that survive well in seawater and are dispersed by it. These are the first … More Sand stabilising plants
Common Mynas Acrodotheres tristis like eggs. They have been recorded eating the eggs of many species, large sad small. In the process, they can endanger the survival of some of the world’s most endangered island endemic birds. Seabird eggs are often large and thus offer introduced Mynas a substantial meal. In 2015 Christine and I, … More Mynas can express their annoyance too
On Monday 12 June, we put our first GPS loggers on to incubating Sooty Terns on Bird Island, for a third season of investigating where Seychelles Sooty Terns feed at this stage of their breeding season. These small loggers, made by Pathtrack Ltd (www.pathtrack.co.uk) weigh about three grams and we put them on to incubating … More Our first tagged Sooty Tern of 2017 is back
On 9 June Christine and I disembarked from the Twin Otter that brought us on the short flight from Mahe to be welcomed by a very green Bird Island, betraying an unusually wet start to the “dry season”. Our ears and eyes were immediately filled with the sounds and sights of a multitude of Brown … More Sooty Terns return to Bird Island – and so do we
Iceland was colonised by humans around 1100 years ago by adventurous Viking explorers, initially from Norway but subsequently further settlers arrived from other Scandinavian countries. Inevitably, human arrival led to many changes in the ecology of the main island and its offshore islets, due to direct exploitation of resources for food, shelter and fire, and … More Puffin heaven – for now
On Friday 16 September Christine and I visited Pathtrack Ltd, the company that makes the GPS loggers (Nanofix GEO+) that we deploy on Sooty Terns (and that we also put on Brown Noddies with Camille Lebarbenchon, our friend based at Reunion Island). Following increased demand for their tracking equipment Pathtrack have relocated to a larger building in … More Feedback from Pathtrack: tracking technology moves on
As mentioned in my blog of 28 July, Dylan Savy, the 11-year old son of the Bird Island’s general manager and grandson of island owner Guy Savy, was due to count the number of Sooty Tern chicks in the squares we had marked in the colony before our departure. Dylan duly undertook these counts on … More Continuing success for Bird Island’s Sooty Terns
On 13 September we decided to visit one of southern England’s more pleasant coastal towns. The day was sunny and hot; in fact, it was said to have been the hottest September day for over a century! Littlehampton was crowded but tranquil – no shouting, no loud music, no litter. As we approached the sea … More Littlehampton, (West Sussex) and Bird Island (Seychelles): surprising similarities
On 20 June Christine and I left Bird Island and returned to Mahe. The growing chicks in the Sooty Tern colony were becoming much more mobile and thus prone to move away from their nest sites at any disturbance, putting them at risk of attack from neighbouring adults when they try to return. By the … More Farewell to Bird Island, 2016
The south-east trade wind season, roughly from May to October, is not the best time to see glorious sunsets on Bird Island. Nevertheless, sitting on the western beach as the sun goes down, feeling the south-east breeze after a hot day in the sun, is a great way to pass the last hour of daylight … More Bird Island sunsets and starscapes
